John McGovern (soccer player)

John McGovern
Personnel
Surname	John Prescott McGovern
birthday	October 28, 1949
place of birth	Montrose (Angus) ,  Scotland
position	midfield
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
1965-1968	Hartlepools United	72 0(5)
1968-1974	Derby County	190 (16)
1974	Leeds United	4 0(0)
1974-1982	Nottingham Forest	253 0(6)
1982-1984	Bolton Wanderers	16 0(0)
Stations as a trainer
Years	station
1982-1984	Bolton Wanderers
1994-1996	Rotherham United
1997-1998	Woking FC
1 Only league games are given.

John Prescott McGovern (born October 28, 1949 in Montrose (Angus) , Scotland ) is a former Scottish football player and football coach, who was best known for his time with the English first division club Nottingham Forest , with whom he won the European Cup in 1979 and 1980.

Player career

John McGovern was born in Scotland but moved to Hartlepool , England with his family when he was seven . There he began his professional career with the regional club Hartlepools United at the age of 16 . His discoverer was Brian Clough , who had just moved to Hartlepool as a coach . Clough left the club again in 1967, but in the following season McGovern succeeded with his team promotion to the third division. He then followed his old coach in 1968 and moved to Derby County .

Derby County

Derby played in the second division, but McGovern made it into the upper house of English football in the first season with his new team . In the following six years he made a name for himself as a regular player in his new club and celebrated his greatest success so far in the Football League First Division in 1971/72 by winning the English championship. As a titleholder, he then played in the European Cup of National Champions in 1972/73 and only failed there in the semifinals at Juventus Turin .

1974 he followed again his coach Brian Clough, who had left Derby County after the 1972/73 season in dispute with the board of directors. Clough took over the top English club Leeds United for the 1974/75 season and immediately signed his favorite player John McGovern. The new season mutated into a disaster, because Brian Clough fell out with the board, team and fans of the new club within a few weeks and was sacked shortly after the start of the season. Again McGovern followed his coach when he took over the coaching post at the second division Nottingham Forest during the season .

Nottingham Forest

In the 1976/77 season, he was promoted to the first division and then the feat of winning the English championship in the Football League First Division 1977/78 as a climber . This was followed by the most successful time in McGovern's career, because in the following two years he triumphed in the European Cup in 1978/79 and 1979/80 . A 1-0 win over Malmö FF or Hamburger SV was enough to win the title. In addition, the team won the English league cup in 1978 and 1979. After two more years, the now 33-year-old McGovern decided to change clubs for the last time and worked for the Bolton Wanderers as a player-coach for the next two years .

Bolton Wanderers

The first season was a complete failure. Bolton rose as the bottom of the table in the third division and in the following season it was enough in the Football League Third Division only to a tenth place in the table. In the 1984/85 season McGovern was released during the current season and thus ended his playing career.

Coaching career

After his start in the coaching career was initially unsuccessful, he moved as an assistant coach to Plymouth Argyle and later to Hull City . It was not until 1994 that he took over a position as head coach at third division Rotherham United and left this post in 1997 to train for one season at Woking FC . He then took on various coaching positions abroad, especially in the youth field.

successes

As a player

• European champion cup: 1979, 1980
• Supercup winner: 1979
• English champion: 1972, 1978
• English league cup winner: 1978, 1979

Web links

• Player data part 1
• Player data part 2
• Page at Hartlepool United
• McGovern's player data